Shake-up at the office

After the regular season ends, the teams that missed the playoffs often have some tough choices to make. Within the Northwest Division alone, two teams are looking to retool more than just the on-ice product after disappointing seasons. One team, the Edmonton Oilers, suffered a late collapse, sliding from playoff positioning thanks to an inability to string together wins at the end of the season, and their coach, Craig MacTavish, has paid the price for it. MacTavish was fired by the Oilers, and he was really the victim of a team that missed the playoffs one time too many.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Wild have their own coaching conundrum, with the resignation of Jacques Lemaire. But that's not all the Wild have to worry about, as they will be looking to revamp their front office. On Tuesday, Wild owner Craig Leipold fired GM (and President) Doug Risebrough, signaling a new direction for Wild hockey.

There are some who are upset about the firing of Risebrough, and they have every right. But any who think that the Wild made the wrong choice in this are being blinded by the accomplishments he brought when the team was created. True, Risebrough turned an expansion team quickly into a contender, but, after those initial seasons, he's actually done more to hurt the team than help it. A lack of flexibility at the trade deadline, an unwillingness to move assets to get a different look, the loss of draft picks and key free agents for not much in return. These qualities alone made it clear that the Wild needed to look elsewhere.

Leipold stated in his announcement that he'd made his decision with a month remaining in the season, but didn't want to disrupt the playoff chase. The final straw may very well have come from Risebrough himself in discussions about Jacques Lemaire's departure. First off, Risebrough expressed surprise, even though everyone around the league new that Lemaire was almost guaranteed to be finished with Minnesota after the season. Secondly, Risebrough said that there was no rush to find a new coach, and certainly that there wasn't the pressure to find one by draft day. That's an indication of a GM who is looking to stay the same course, costing the team top talent (and future options) while they seek out someone who will do things as they've always been done. While the head coach has a direct impact on the product displayed on the ice, it is the GM that assembles the tools that the coach can use. When your most frequent trades are giving away draft picks for either burnt-out players (Chris Simon), or simply to move up slightly in the draft order (the Tyler Cuma pick of this past season), you've lost the insight to push the team forward. When you're one season removed from winning the division, no key pieces are added, and you blame yourself for "high expectations", you've proven that you're out of touch with your fan base. When you shift from stating that injuries didn't affect your team during the season to claiming that a healthy line-up would have guaranteed different results, you've proven that you aren't even aware of the locker room that you helped create.

All in all, Craig Leipold did exactly what he needed to do to try and move the Wild forward. Lemaire's departure was practically guaranteed from the beginning of the season. Risebrough needed to go with him. And the Minnesota Wild can now go about the business of finding a new GM and a new head coach, allowing a new vision to come to Minnesota hockey.